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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
I think this book could have really benefited from being longer. It was a cool premise but the love story seemed to be lacking to me. It was told, not shown, and therefore I had no reason to believe it. The characters were not that developed, other than Piper and Daisy - theirs was the story I was most interested in, not the love story. I think that this was a great idea but suffered from poor execution.
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
From the very first sentence, there was an air of difference about this book. If you've ever had your faith in a first-person narrative shattered by perfect dialogue and neat paragraphs and sections, then this is a book whose prose you'll love. When our main character, Daisy, needs to tell us what someone says, it remains part of the sentence in which that dialogue occurs. For example:
It flows so beautifully, once you work out what's going on. I didn't miss quotation marks or the alternate lines generally required of an exchange of dialogue, because Rosoff is so clearly and beautifully in command of her prose that it just seems like a natural way to read a book. I felt so close to Daisy that I might as well have been looking through her own head, the way her cousins do. Here was a very believable first-person narrator who gives us hints of her life before without overloading us with the sort of information that would get in the way of her true story.
Essentially, Daisy has been sent from New York to live with her cousins in the English countryside. Her father's new wife is pregnant and not entirely keen on the girl whose mother died when she was born. Daisy is not entirely keen on her father's new wife, either, to the point where she has given up eating just in case her stepmother is trying to poison her. So she finds herself in an England where everyone's talking about a War and where things are strained, with hints of Something Wrong everywhere you look. Daisy's cousins and her aunt welcome her without hesitation and the fact that they can see into each other's minds and answer questions you haven't asked out loud is simply not something worth commenting on. It just happens.
Daisy and Edmond is another thing that just happens, despite Daisy's fear that there's something not quite right about falling in love with your cousin. But Edmond is always in her head and she's always in his and it seems very right. More importantly, it's something to focus on when the only other option is the War that everyone's talking about.
Then the War that lingered on the edge of everything becomes a reality. The cousins and Daisy are left without Aunt Penn and everything is going wrong. There are rations and queues and people start asking questions of five children on their own (even though the five children are quite happy to continue on their own, holding things together until Aunt Penn returns). Inevitably, they are split up and Daisy finds herself in a strange new life with the Territorial Army and her little cousin, Piper. From this point, their story is one of survival and of trying to find a new level of normalcy. For Daisy, it is also about finding Edmond and it is this need that draws them away from their new situation and protectors and across the country.
So why the three stars for a book I quite obviously enjoyed? It's simple: there's a whole section missing. When Part 2 picks up, Daisy spends the whole time telling us what happened after the end of the Part 1 and I cannot understand why it wasn't part of the story. There's so much to catch up on; so many more journeys... so why didn't Rosoff turn that into Part 2 instead? I'd have been happy to read this next stage of Daisy's story in Daisy's enjoyable style.
Despite the missing part of the story, I'm happy to recommend this book to anyone who asks because it really is a fascinating read. The narrative is so enjoyable and as you travel throughout the story, things happen on the edges of Daisy's perception that are perfect for pondering. With any story that revolves around a war in a first world country, there's always an underlying question: Could that really happen? Rosoff's explanation is simple enough to be believable.
Finally, one quote that has stayed with me long after finishing the book:
Anyway, I'm looking and looking and everyone's leaving and there's no signal on my phone and I'm thinking Oh Great, I'm going to be abandoned at the airport so that's two countries they don't want me in, when I notice everyone's gone except this kid who comes up to me and says You must be Daisy. And when I look relieved he does too and says I'm Edmond.
It flows so beautifully, once you work out what's going on. I didn't miss quotation marks or the alternate lines generally required of an exchange of dialogue, because Rosoff is so clearly and beautifully in command of her prose that it just seems like a natural way to read a book. I felt so close to Daisy that I might as well have been looking through her own head, the way her cousins do. Here was a very believable first-person narrator who gives us hints of her life before without overloading us with the sort of information that would get in the way of her true story.
Essentially, Daisy has been sent from New York to live with her cousins in the English countryside. Her father's new wife is pregnant and not entirely keen on the girl whose mother died when she was born. Daisy is not entirely keen on her father's new wife, either, to the point where she has given up eating just in case her stepmother is trying to poison her. So she finds herself in an England where everyone's talking about a War and where things are strained, with hints of Something Wrong everywhere you look. Daisy's cousins and her aunt welcome her without hesitation and the fact that they can see into each other's minds and answer questions you haven't asked out loud is simply not something worth commenting on. It just happens.
Daisy and Edmond is another thing that just happens, despite Daisy's fear that there's something not quite right about falling in love with your cousin. But Edmond is always in her head and she's always in his and it seems very right. More importantly, it's something to focus on when the only other option is the War that everyone's talking about.
Then the War that lingered on the edge of everything becomes a reality. The cousins and Daisy are left without Aunt Penn and everything is going wrong. There are rations and queues and people start asking questions of five children on their own (even though the five children are quite happy to continue on their own, holding things together until Aunt Penn returns). Inevitably, they are split up and Daisy finds herself in a strange new life with the Territorial Army and her little cousin, Piper. From this point, their story is one of survival and of trying to find a new level of normalcy. For Daisy, it is also about finding Edmond and it is this need that draws them away from their new situation and protectors and across the country.
So why the three stars for a book I quite obviously enjoyed? It's simple: there's a whole section missing. When Part 2 picks up, Daisy spends the whole time telling us what happened after the end of the Part 1 and I cannot understand why it wasn't part of the story. There's so much to catch up on; so many more journeys... so why didn't Rosoff turn that into Part 2 instead? I'd have been happy to read this next stage of Daisy's story in Daisy's enjoyable style.
Despite the missing part of the story, I'm happy to recommend this book to anyone who asks because it really is a fascinating read. The narrative is so enjoyable and as you travel throughout the story, things happen on the edges of Daisy's perception that are perfect for pondering. With any story that revolves around a war in a first world country, there's always an underlying question: Could that really happen? Rosoff's explanation is simple enough to be believable.
Finally, one quote that has stayed with me long after finishing the book:
If you haven't been in a war and are wondering how long it takes to get used to losing everyting you think you need or love, I can tell you the answer is no time at all.
I don't know how I feel about this one. I read it really fast--so it is a quick, easy read. But, did I connect with the main character? To be honest...I was a little grossed out about her relationship with Edmond. But, I wanted Daisy to prevail. Did she? Would I want my students to read this? What would I want them to learn from this? Will they connect with Daisy and Piper and the other characters? I'm not sure. Are the kids getting used to these dystopias? Is it getting harder to please with all the dystopias around? Probably.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A quick read. It kept me up after midnight for “just one more chapter”, and Daisy’s wit and irony prevented the whole thing from getting too sad.
It feels exactly like what I’d imagine from the diary of a young Gen Z written post WWIII
It feels exactly like what I’d imagine from the diary of a young Gen Z written post WWIII
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes